Weekly Overview - Oct. 31-Nov.4

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14...OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 4

Dear Parents:

The end of the first trimester is this Friday! We are also taking our field trip to Hidden Villa Farm on Friday. A special notice about what to wear and what to bring for lunch went home on Friday. Please read this notice carefully!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Phonograms:  We will learn one phonogram this week - ed (ed, d, t - puts a word in the past).  There will be a quiz on Thursday.

planted  wanted  weeded   played  showed  saved   looked   picked   jumped

Reading: Our story for this week is “The Kite”. The reading skill focus this week is cause and effect. High-frequency vocabulary cards and story vocab. will go home as part of the Monday homework. Your child should be reviewing all of the flashcards on a regular basis. Any student who has yet to pass the Level E reading text will be assessed this week.

English:  We will continue working on capitalization rules (beginning of sentences, special names, days, months, holidays, and "I"), and sentence-ending punctuation (. ? !).  We will have our first English quiz on Wednesday.

Spelling: Homework continues to be words and sentences. Please make sure that your child has a beginning capital, ending punctuation and an underlined spelling word for each sentence. Beginning next week, homework that does not follow these essential criteria will not receive full point credit. Please help your child to learn the responsible practices of checking work and following directions. Because of our field trip on Friday, our final spelling test will be on Thursday this week.

1.  rained     2.  jumped   3.  needed     4.  liked     5.  he

6.  by     7.  all     8.  has    9.  over     10.  let

MATH: We will be learning the “near double” addition strategy. If a student knows the doubles facts, she/he can count on 1 or count back to get the answer to a near double fact. For example, to find out 6+5, a student can think “5+5=10, so 5+6 equals one more, which is 11” or she/he can think “6+6=12, so 5+6 equals one less, which is 11”. There will be an addition quiz on Thursday covering the doubles and near doubles facts.

SCIENCE: We will have a science lab this Thursday at the usual time. We will be experimenting with using 4 of our 5 senses to observe some substances found in the kitchen (all safe to taste of course). We will gather information about the substances as we look at, feel, smell and taste them.

**********************SPECIAL NOTES************************

J An invitation!  You are always welcome to visit the classroom during non-instructional times (after school) to see what we’ve been up to.  The students and I work hard to make our room inviting and filled with art projects, writing projects, good work papers,etc.  Please feel free to come and have a look around or just to chat a few minutes.  Your child would love to show off his/her room! J

Other notes:

Looking Ahead: Friday, Nov.4- Hidden Villa Farm trip and Trimester 1 ends… Nov. 10 – Report cards go home… Nov. 11 – Veteran’s Day holiday… …Wed.-Fri., Nov.23-25- Happy Thanksgiving Holiday…Nov. 28-Dec.2 – Family-to-Family donation opportunity

This week will be the last week of progress reports until after Thanksgiving. Please sign and return the progress report when you receive one.

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - Oct. 24-28

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14...OCTOBER 24-28

Dear Parents:

Thank you to all who helped to make the Harvest Festival booth a success through your donations of candy, money, decorations and time. The children will be receiving red pencils and ribbons to reinforce the healthy choices focus of Red Ribbon Week, which is this week.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Phonograms:  We will learn two phonograms this week- er- er as in her, and or. There will be a phonogram quiz on Thursday.

her  over  mother  father  sister  brother  fern  farmer  ladder

corn  born  horn  short  torn  sport  fork  storm  thorn  stork

Reading: We will read a story called “Me on the Map”.  In this story we will revisit our social studies ideas of where we fit in the world (home, street, neighborhood, city, state, country, world).  We will work with a Venn diagram organizational tool to compare and contrast story ideas.

English/Writing:  We will work on capitalization and ending punctuation. The rules for adding s to nouns to make them mean "more than one" will be taught and practiced.

Spelling: PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS A CHANGE IN THE SPELLING HOMEWORK. HOMEWORK WILL NOW CONSIST OF WRITING THE WORDS FOUR TIMES EACH AND WRITING A COMPLETE SENTENCE FOR EACH SPELLING WORD. This sentence may be a statement, a question, or an exclamation. Please help your child to check the sentences for accuracy in punctuation and meaning. Your child should number the sentences and underline the spelling word in each sentence. Your child should not change the spelling word to fit his/her sentence (jumping for jump), but write the sentence to fit the spelling word.

1.  house     2.  how    3.  her     4.  mother     5.  father

6.  or     7.  corn     8.  for    9.  but     10.  here

MATH: This week we will be working on two great addition strategies- counting on and doubles. With the counting on strategy, the children will learn that it is best used when adding 1, 2 or 3 to a number. Start with the bigger number and count on from that number to get the sum. For example, to add 3+9, a student would think 9, 10,11,12 so 3+9=12. With the doubles strategy, the student memorizes all of the doubles facts (2+2=4, 3+3=6, 4+4=8, etc.). On Thursday there will be a quiz for the counting on strategy.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Our curriculum focus will be to explore the question, “How has travel changed?”.

SCIENCE: Representatives from Hidden Villa Farm will be here on Friday to lead us in some activities that will help to prepare us for our big trip on Friday, Nov. 4! It’s going to be great!

**********************SPECIAL NOTES************************

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT OUR LIBRARY DAY IS WEDNESDAY: All books should be turned in on Tuesday so that Mrs. Lancaster has a chance to check them in for us Wednesday morning.

Looking ahead: Halloween parade- Monday, Oct. 31 at 8:45you’re your child is going to be in the parade, she/he should come to school ready for the parade. She/he will be able to change after the parade so that the regular academic day can resume. It is not required that your child wear a costume on Monday.

Looking more ahead: Nov. 4 – Hidden Villa Farm field trip and the trimester ends… Nov. 10 – Super Citizen assembly and report cards go home… Nov. 11 – Veteran’s Day holiday… … … Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break… Nov. 28 -Family to Family donation drive begins

There will be no progress reports on the following dates: Nov. 9 and Nov. 16

Please refer to the Millikin Handbook/calendar/website for other important dates!!

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - Oct. 17-21

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14...OCT. 17-21

Dear Parents:

Please remember to sign and return the progress report each week.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Phonograms:  We will learn two phonograms - ai (long a in the middle of the word) and wh.  There will not be a phonogram quiz on Thursday.

 rain  pail  train  main  chair  white  whale  when  wheat  whisper  wheel

Reading: We are beginning a new book called Surprises. Theme 5 is called “Home Sweet Home”.  There will be a new set of word cards and story words sent home on Monday night. The goal is for your child to be able to read all of the cards easily and with no hesitation. This may take more practice than the required once a week. Our story for this week is called “Moving Day” and it is about a hermit crab that needs to find a new home. These word cards are preprinted and much smaller than the previous cards, so please find an appropriate container to save them.

English (*new subject*)/Writing: We will continue to discuss beginning marks (capitals), ending marks (periods, questions marks and exclamation points), and question starters (words that signal the beginning of a question). The children will also finish their hat stories and begin word-processing them during computer lab.

Spelling: FYI - Our homework format will change next week! Because of the short week, the practice spelling will be on Thursday.   

1.  rain     2.  chair     3.  why     4.  when     5.  white

6.  this     7.  that’s     8. up     9.  down     10.  like

MATH: We will review parts of 10 to aid in understanding of addition and subtraction problems of 10. We will also explore how to make a chart called a table to organize number pairs. Our topic test will be on Friday.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We have begun a new unit entitled, “Changes Over Time”. We continue to explore the question “What was life like long ago?” through reading and discussion. We will continue this comparing and contrasting by focusing on the schools of the past and schools now. This week is Fire Prevention Week. We will be reading some information and stories about fire safety. Our firefighter neighbors from the Homestead station will be visiting on Friday and reinforcing some of the rules and procedures that we will have been discussing all week.

****************************SPECIAL NOTES***************************

Saturday, Oct.22 – HARVEST FESTIVAL!! J Noon-3:00 Come rain or shine!

Looking ahead: October 31 – Halloween Parade – 8:45… Nov. 1- Make-up Picture Day… Nov.4 – 1^st trimester ends AND our field trip to Hidden Villa Farm!!… Nov. 10- report cards go home… Nov. 11- Veteran’s Day holiday … Nov. 23-25 –Thanksgiving holiday- There will be school on Monday and Tuesday of that week.

Have a great week! Please contact me with your questions or concerns. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - Oct. 10-14

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14....OCTOBER 10-14

Dear Parents:

Please send in the emergency food pack if you have not already done so. Please help your child to remember to bring in a special hat by tomorrow. We will keep the hats at school this week since we will be using them for a writing project.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Phonograms:  We are learning 2 phonograms this week: ar and ck (2 letter "k"). There will be a quiz on Thursday. 

star   car     sharp     barn     farm     hard     park     dark     part

lock     stick     block   sick     pick     trick     chick     peck

Reading: We will review our three stories and then take our first Theme tests on Tuesday. Part 1 will be based on knowledge of vocabulary that has been sent home on Mondays. Part 2 will be based on your child’s comprehension of the stories that we have read and discussed from our reader. Part of our reading time will be spent on doing some descriptive writing using the special hat that your child has brought in. We will also read a story about a crabby cat and then respond in our journals with our own crabby experiences!

Spelling:

1.  sharp      2.  are     3.  chick     4.  neck     5.  black

6.  old        7.  new       8.  big       9.  hat     10.  little

Writing: We will finish up the 2^nd class story, discussing and reviewing the basic parts. We have been writing each sentence on a separate color-coded half-sheet. We will continue to apply the color-coded structured process to a more fluent application of the structure by writing a continuous story and using crayon colored dots. This story will be written out on our usual brown writing paper so that the students can see the story as a whole. Again this will be a group story. Eventually the students will apply this process to individual stories.

  

English: We will be continuing to focus on telling and asking sentences and how to choose the appropriate punctuation.

MATH: We will finish up our topic about relating subtraction and addition and we will take our topic test (Tuesday). We will also take a basic subtraction facts quiz on Wednesday. After that we will be reviewing the tens frame and parts of 10 (1,9  2,8  3,7…).

  

SOCIAL STUDIES: We will compare some aspects of life now and long ago with respect to transportation, school and activities. We will also have a brief discussion of Christopher Columbus.

SCIENCE: Science parents- take note!  We have a lab on Thursday. We will be working on sorting and graphing skills.

************************SPECIAL NOTES**********************

Tuesday- Family Fun-raiser dinner night at Chilis on El Camino- Don’t forget your green flyer!

Monday, Oct.17 – Teacher In-service Day- no school

Oct. 24-28 – Red Ribbon Week – Making healthy life choices!

Please contribute to our 1^st grade Arts and Crafts basket for the Harvest Festival- actual supplies or a $5 donation would be greatly appreciated! Harvest Festival is Saturday, Oct. 22- don’t miss out on the fun!

Monday, Oct. 31 is the Halloween parade at 8:45.  Your child may wear his/her costume to school if s/he is planning on being in the parade. Children may change after the parade. Please remember that we will be doing regular work the majority of the day, so if your child plans on wearing his/her costume the whole day, s/he must not have his/her face or hands constricted during the regular school day.

Looking way ahead- Hidden Villa Farm field trip – Friday, Nov. 4

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - Oct. 3-7

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14...OCTOBER 3-7

Dear Parents:

Our fund-raiser ends this Wednesday. Thank you so much to all families who have turned in support money, or who have committed to supporting our activities sometime within the year. Our library checkout day is Wednesday, but I ask that the books be returned on Tuesday! Please help your child to develop the habit of “book in the backpack” on Tuesday.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Phonograms:  This week we will learn two phonograms: ay (long a at the end of the word), and ch.  We will review sh, th, ee, ow, oo, and ou.  There will not be a quiz on Thursday. 

Examples:

pay  stay  gray  play  tray  chin  chip  lunch  match  peach  cheek

Reading:  We will be reading the last story for Theme 4 called “Bud’s Day Out”.  High frequency word cards and story vocab. will go home for homework on Monday as usual.  Please continue to review these cards with your child as directed. As our collection of cards get bigger, please feel free to “weed out” those word cards that your child knows instantly. I can't stress enough the importance of your child reading daily at home for 10-15 minutes to increase his/her reading proficiency.  It is important, however, that the reading material not be too difficult, or your time will only result in frustration for your child and you.  Part of this reading time can be with you reading aloud as your child reads along with you. I hope that the bedtime story ritual is part of your child’s evening routine- it is SOOO important!!

Phonics:  We continue to practice our reading and comprehension of short and long vowel a, i, and u words.

Spelling:

1.  day     2.  play     3.  stay     4.  is     5.  had

6.  chip     7.  lunch     8.  touch     9.  don't     10.  of

Writing: We will start to incorporate what we have learned about writing an introduction sentence into actual story writing. We will work together in class on two complete story structures. We will be using transition words to move the story along through three important sequential events related to the introduction sentence topic. We will then learn about detail/feeling sentences (red) and add these to our class stories. We will end each story with a closing (green) sentences related to the introduction sentence.

MATH: This week’s math focuses on problem solving using a picture. We will talk about a specialized type of problem - one that requires the students to compare two quantities. The students will use a special chart called a t-chart. A detailed note about this will go home with Tuesday night’s homework. We will also explore how addition and subtraction facts are related and how we can write a “fact family” for a number and any of its number pairs. For example, the number 9 has 5 and 4 as one of its pairs. We can write 5+4=9, 4+5=9, 9-5=4, 9-4=5. We will talk about how there are “NO STRANGERS” in the family- there are no numbers that don’t belong.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We will talk about the 4 different land areas in California (coast, mountain, desert and valley).

SCIENCE: We will continue to put together all that we have learned about the different animal types and their characteristics.

*********************SPECIAL NOTES********************

THIS FRIDAY EVENING!! – BOXCAR MOVIE NIGHT! Come out and enjoy a fun family film under the stars! Join the Boxcar contest for even more fun and challenge!

Saturday, Oct. 22 -Harvest Festival (noon-3:00pm)- 1^st grade is hoping to collect $5 per family to help purchase items for our 1^st grade Arts and Crafts Basket for the Silent Auction. We hope that everyone can contribute. We also need many helpers to run our Room 14 game!

Looking ahead: Oct. 31 – Halloween Parade – 8:45 am - Please note that this activity is very low-key and it is optional. We will be having a regular academic day most of the day- please do not take your child out of school that day, just let me know if you do not want him/her participating in the parade and other arrangements will be made for that short time period.

Progress reports will go home this week.

Have a good week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce